


What's In A Name?

by AngelicSakuraBlossom



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 09:43:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16784473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelicSakuraBlossom/pseuds/AngelicSakuraBlossom
Summary: Katie. Gunderson. Miss Holt. Pidge.Pidge has several names, and when she never actually properly introduces herself to someone they don't really have a clue as to what to call her.In which one James Griffin really needs to find the Green Paladin and realizes just how many names she actually has. And...he doesn't know which one to call her.





	What's In A Name?

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this lovely piece of artwork!  
> https://uraraaaaaaan.tumblr.com/post/179548543077/nice-tryjames
> 
> I know it's a Kidge blog and was meant to be taken humorously, and not at in in a shippy Jidge way, but the more I thought about it, the fluffier things became!

James huffed as he powered down his fighter jet. He didn’t understand it! The others were working just fine, and his had been working fine yesterday, but now it was lagging behind, and the readings it gave off were different than the others.

“This isn’t good.” He muttered. He opened the cockpit and jumped out, resisting the urge to throw his helmet.

“What’s wrong son?” Sam asked as he approached James. “You don’t normally fall behind like that.”

“It’s my jet!” James shouted. He took a deep breath and tightened his hold on his helmet. “The readings are off. I’m a little worried. It’s never done this before.”

Sam hummed as he looked up at the fighter jet. “I’ve got a meeting to go to soon. Why don’t you go find Katie and have her look it over. She should be able to fix it.”

“You think?” James asked.

“Of course! She’s a Holt. We’re geniuses.” He slapped his hand on James’s shoulder and gave it a tight squeeze.

“You know where she is?”

“I never knew where she was when she was in diapers, forget about now.” Sam laughed lightly. “But, I think she was supposed to be helping teach some engineering cadets. Check with Iverson first. He should have a better idea where that class is.” With that Sam bid him farewell, falling in step with a few other officers as they left.

James looked up at his jet and sighed. Looks like he had to go find the Green Paladin.

* * *

Tracking down the Commander was not easy. The man was always busy; going in and out of meetings at various locations, as well as overseeing every operation on the ship and the base kept him moving. James considered himself lucky that he managed to find Iverson after just an hour.

“Commander Iverson, sir.” James rose his hand in salute, waiting for Iverson to address him. It took a couple minutes for Iverson to finish his current task before he turned towards James.

“As ease, soldier.” James lowered his hand and looked up at his superior. “What is it?”

“I need the Green Paladin to look over my fighter jet. Officer Holt said she was teaching a class and that you knew where that class was located.” James said simply.

Iverson grunted as he scrolled through his tablet. “Gunderson, Gunderson. coulda sworn that was tomorrow.” he muttered to himself. “Great, now I gotta find somethin else to keep her busy for another day.”

James awkwardly stood there, trying not to listen to Iverson’s ranting. “Here it is. She should be in Sim Room 5 with the cadets.”

“For engineering?” James asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Look, I don’t question what she does.” Iverson stated. “As long as she stays out of trouble and away from me, she can do whatever the hell she wants for all I care.” Without another word Iverson stalked off, his eyes glued to his tablet again.

James huffed as he turned around. Sim Room 5 was off the Atlas and on the other side of the base. It would take him a while to get there. God he hoped she could fix his jet.

* * *

James peered into the simulation room. It was nearly empty except for a couple of cadets milling about.

“She was so awesome! Miss Holt really knows what she’s doing!”

“Hell yeah! Were you in the program she created for us? I’ve never experienced anything like it before! Its like we were really on another world!”

“I can’t believe that’s what she sees everyday!”

James cleared his throat as he approached the gushing cadets. They gasped and fell into a salute as they saw him. James tried not to grimace as he relieved them. He had always looked forward to the day when cadets would look up to him and salute him in respect and admiration. But now that it was here, and these cadets were roughly the same age, some even older than he was, it was a little strange.

“I’m looking for you instructor.” He told them.

“Miss Holt?” A male asked. “The other Paladins came by to collect her. I think they said something about the Lions.”

The lions? Well, at least they were all in the same general area. Separate hangars, but they were still connected. But that meant she was with the others. “Did they mention which Lion?” The cadets all shook their heads. James sighed. “When did she leave?”

“Just a few minutes ago. You just missed her.” They told him. The cadets turned to each other and began gushing over Miss Holt once again.

* * *

James felt his patience running thing as he entered the Blue Lion’s hangar. Allura was by one of the front paws, a hand over it and a look of relief on her face.

“It’s no big deal, Allura.” the Green Paladin said from the computers. “Just let the program run and she should be fine in an hour.”

“Thank you Pidge, “Allura said. She turned back to her lion. Pidge nodded as she stood up, the other paladins following her. James sighed in relief. Finally! He found her, now all he had to do was get her to look at his jet and his problem would be fixed. Pidge stopped at something and the other paladins continued walking, heading towards him.

“Hey, uh...” He trailed off. What was he supposed to call her again?

James could vaguely remember hearing about a ‘Pidge Gunderson’ that was on the worst ranked team before ‘he’ had disappeared with his teammates years ago. The Paladin and ‘Pidge’ were obviously one in the same, but Pidge seemed to be a friendly nickname that those closest to her used. He didn’t really want to step on any toes by calling her a friendly nickname that he wasn’t allowed to use, so ‘Pidge’ probably wasn’t a good idea.

Every one higher up than him seemed to refer to her by last name, switching between ‘Gunderson’ and ‘Holt’ with ease. Those with a lower ranking seemed to stick exclusively to ‘Miss Holt’. But he had noticed the way she had twitched every time one of their superiors addressed her as ‘Gunderson’. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally make her mad when he needed her help.

James took a deep breath and went with what was sure to be the safest name: the one her family called her.

“Katie?” He called. He felt an arm wrap around his waist as the other Paladins pass him by. He was spun around to face and angry Hunk and Lance while a blade was placed against his neck. He was pinned, even without Keith’s arm around him, James didn’t think he’d be able to move with the murderous gazes Lance and Hunk were directing at him.

“Huh?” He heard Pidge turn around behind them. “Did you guys say my name?”

Hunk and Lance immediately smiled at her. “Just wondering if you’d want some cookies. I found some peanut butter during my last search!” Hunk said.

“Yes!” He could hear the excitement in her voice. “You have to get my mom to help though! She makes the _best_ peanut butter cookies!”

“Wouldn’t think of anything else, pigeon!” Lance said with a laugh. “See ya!” They waved to her as the discreetly lead James out of the hangar. He was shoved into the Red Lion hangar, the door closing behind them.

Keith grabbed him by the jacket and slammed him against the wall. “Alright, Grffin! Talk!” he demanded.

“About what?” James asked.

“Why the hell are you calling Pidge ‘Katie’?” Lance asked. His bayard appeared and James suddenly felt very scared.

“Th-That’s her name, isn’t it?” James asked. “That’s what Commander Holt calls her.”

“You don’t have permission to call her that!” Keith growled. “So why did you?”

“I thought that was her name, Kogane! Jesus!” James shouted. “What am I supposed to call her then?’

“Pidge.” Hunk said. “You call her anything else and you’ll regret it.”

“What did you want with her, any way?” Lance asked.

“My jet’s readings are off so Commander Holt suggested I find her to take a look at it.” James huffed as he rolled her back. “Look, I’m sorry I called her ‘Katie’. She has so many freaking names I didn’t know which one to use, I thought it would be fine.”

“Well it’s not.” Keith let him go and stepped back. “Don’t let us catch you calling her that again, got it?” He watched the Paladins file out, Hunk giving him the ‘watching you’ gesture as the door closed again.

James groaned as he slid to the ground. Why did one girl’s name have to be so complicated!?

* * *

After gathering his thoughts and wits James had returned to the Blue hangar to talk to her. Pidge had agreed to look at his jet and soon enough she was siting in his pilot’s seat, her laptop hooked up.

She seemed to hum lightly to herself as she scrolled through the readings, clicking things at various points.

James leaned against the cockpit opening, watching her work. He just couldn’t get his mind off of the extreme reaction Keith, Lance, and Hunk had had to calling her ‘Katie’.

“Hey, mind if I ask you a question?” Pidge suddenly asked.

“Shoot.”

“Why did they carry you away when you wanted to talk to me?” She looked up at him, her glasses sliding down the bridge of her nose.

“Huh?”

“You called to me in the hangar and the others hid you and tried to distract me with peanut butter.” She chuckled as she pushed her glasses off. “I saw them push you out though. Why?”

“I, uh…” James rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced around the hangar. “I didn’t know what to call you, so I said ‘Katie’. I don’t know why they freaked out exactly. Just said I couldn’t call you that.”

Pidge hummed and turned back to her laptop. She shifted in his seat, crossing her legs. There was a pregnant pause as Pidge didn’t correct or agree with them.

“Why?” James asked. Pidge glanced at him for just a second. She didn’t elaborate as her laptop beeped. She let out a tiny ‘aha!’ and began typing.

“I kinda freaked out not that long ago.” She confessed quietly. “I threw ‘Katie Holt’ away to become ‘Pidge Gunderson’ so that I could find my family. The Garrison refused to call me anything other than ‘Miss Holt’, and…I really didn’t like. It felt like they were ignoring everything they put me and my family through.”

“Oh.” James turned away, thinking it over. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know. How could you?” She glanced away from her laptop, her cheeks turning pink. “It’s kinda nice to hear it, actually. When Shiro first called me ‘Katie’, it really helped me. Out there, he was the only one that I ever let call me that. It was a comfort.”

James turned away, feeling like he was intruding on some intimate memory she had with Captain Shirogane.

“But, I guess the more I heard ‘Pidge the Paladin’, the more I realized I had changed. ‘Katie’ just didn’t seem to fit anymore. Truth be told, even though more people _can_ call me that, my mom and dad are the only ones that actually do.” Pidge laughed lightly, rubbing her neck. “Even Matt calls me ‘Pidge’, but he’s the one that gave it to me.”

James nodded in understanding. “Pidge suits you.” He said. “But I think ‘Katie’ does too.” He leaned against the cockpit opening, looking at her laptop screen. He couldn’t understand a single thing on it, but he’d rather look at it then her. If he did, he knew his face would be bright red. “‘Pidge the Paladin’ just seems to limit you. That’s it. A Paladin is all you can be. Everything you do has to have something to do with Voltron or this war we’re all stuck in.

“‘Katie’ feels like it can be anybody you want.”

“Y-You think?” He glanced at her. Her cheeks were pink and her glasses had slipped again. He smiled softly as he pushed them back up her nose. He could feel his own cheeks heating up.

“Yeah.” Pidge turned back to her laptop. After a moment she took off her glasses, folding them as she carefully looked at them. She smiled to herself and set them on her laptop.

“You can call me ‘Katie’.” She turned towards him. “If you want to.”

“R-Really?” James couldn’t help how red his face turned. The importance of the name didn’t escape him. The fact that she thought _he_ was special enough to call her by her actual name sent butterflies through his stomach.

Pidge bit her lip and nodded. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear and glanced away. “I think I’d like to be reminded that I’m more than just ‘Pidge the Paladin’, from time to time.” The butterflies in his stomach were in a frenzy now.

“Alright, Katie.” He agreed. “You know, you don’t have to call me ‘Griffin’ like everyone else does. You can call me ‘James’ if you want.”

“Alright, James.” James watched as she smiled softly at him, her eyelids almost closed. He smiled back just as gently as he laid his chin on his arms. He watched her with a soft smile as she eventually turned back to her laptop, typing away again. This time she would occasionally glance at him. They two continued to sit and chat quietly, even long after his jet’s programming was reading correctly again.

**Author's Note:**

> And you know James totally looked at the other paladins next time and called Pidge 'Katie', just to piss them off. Only to watch them gasp as she blushed and even called him 'James' in return. Then they were just watching two blushing nerds talk.


End file.
